Readers may already have seen the ABC News story ‘Big brown Asian cloud blamed for glacial melting.’ This story is based on a new paper published in the weekly journal Nature, also featured in the News and Views section.
The paper, which looks at the effect of the so-called Asian brown clouds (the aerosols formed by the burning of wood and fossil fuels), is published by a group of scientists from the University of California San Diego and the Nasa Langley Research Center. Up to now, it has been recognised that aerosols can cool the Earth’s surface by scattering the Sun’s rays (global dimming), which is the explanation often used in order to try and explain the global cooling during the 1940’s to the 1970’s, despite rising levels of atmospheric CO2. Researchers now say that they also have a significant warming effect on the atmosphere, dependent on the altitude.
According to the BBC:
“We found that atmospheric brown clouds enhanced lower atmospheric solar heating by about 50%. “[The pollution] contributes as much as the recent increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases to regional lower atmospheric warming trends,’ they suggested. ‘We propose that the combined warming trend of 0.25 Kelvin per decade may be sufficient to account for the observed retreat of the Himalayan glaciers.”
Also:
“The scientists said there remained a degree of uncertainty because, until now, estimates had largely been derived from computer models.”
Another problem for computer models on which the IPCC base there certainty about climate change.
This new paper adds to the concerns about the reported UK plan of burning more home grown wood in order to help reduce CO2 emissions.
There is also a concern that the Asian Brown Clouds are having a significant effect on the patterns of Australian rainfall via a climate ‘teleconnection.’
Professor Ramanathan concludes, “a huge proportion of the cloud comes from people burning wood and dung to cook their food, so if enough people converted to cleaner fuels, the cloud would quickly dissipate.”
Paul Biggs
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
I read somewhere this week the science is all based on slicing brown clouds with several robots flying above an island
True Gavin – “Although the direct observations occurred over a relatively small area and over a short period, they are representative of widespread plumes of pollution, known as atmospheric brown clouds, that blanket much of south Asia during the dry season.”
Just an add on,
I don’t think the combined fires of the world has helped matters much at all, through the wars,1st and 2nd, Africa, sth America, volcanic action,and the oilfires of the middle east have been massive.For some reason these matters don’t seem to get included in other considerations.Look what krakatoa did alone if any thing is to be included of the past, now combine all with that.From Africa across to China the stove fire is widespread and massive.Etc.There are many considerations
How now brown cloud?
Interesting, driving back into Lithgow from Tarana a couple of weeks ago, looking down on Lithgow, there was a pollution haze hanging from wood fires that was starting to approach the pollution seen in Lithgow from the coal fires when driving down from the Bells Road in 1961.
Cleaner solution is Nuclear Powered Electricity for Heating.
As an OldOzzie who has seen hotter days and bigger floods in the ’50s than today and having stood at the Lark Quarry, in outback Australia, currently the only recorded dinosaur stampede on earth. In this place, around 95 million years ago, a large herd of small two legged dinosaurs gathered on the banks of a forest lake to drink, the Climate is always changing and Humans have nothing to do with it –
Old Ozzie – Global Warming Sceptic
The authors actually say:
“Our general circulation model simulations,
which take into account the recently observed widespread
occurrence of vertically extended atmospheric brown clouds over
the Indian Ocean and Asia3, suggest that atmospheric brown
clouds contribute as much as the recent increase in anthropogenic
greenhouse gases to regional lower atmospheric warming trends.
Wepropose that the combined warming trend of 0.25Kper decade
may be sufficient to account for the observed retreat of the
Himalayan glaciers”
“Our general circulation model simulations..”
That’s far enough for me.
Yes well I guess solarphiles are indeed locked in the Medieval period divining the Gods through chicken entrails and spurious statistical correlations. BTW how is the experimental replicate planet Earth going?
“This new paper adds to the concerns about the reported UK plan of burning more home grown wood in order to help reduce CO2 emissions.”
Paul, surely you can’t be serious with this implication. Do you really mean that the Asian brown cloud might have something in common with the use of biomass fuels in Europe? Have you examined modern wood fuel combustion techniques? Do you really mean that the biomass power stations in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, or even those in the UK, have anything at all in common with thousands of little cooking fires burning wet wood and cattle dung?
Or is adding two plus two and getting 1.352 x 10^67 a form of humour?